The present invention relates to a magnetic closure for personal articles such as wearing apparel and traveling articles, and particularly for bags and the like. More particularly, the invention relates to a magnetic closure that allows easier closure without requiring the user to push in any way the two portions of the closure in order to close it.
As is known, a magnetic closure is constituted by a male element and a female element in which the male element mates with the female element.
In particular, a closure of the type according to the invention is provided by means of a metallic plate on which the magnet is arranged; the plate is covered by a dome-shaped covering element provided with a slot from which a male engagement pin protrudes. In turn, the female element of the magnetic closure comprises a metallic plate on which the magnet is arranged; said plate is covered by a dome, similar to the dome of the male element, and is provided with a slot through which it is engaged by said male pin. Clearly, the male element and the female element of the magnetic closure must be applied to two flaps that must be coupled one another.
The solution proposed above, however, has drawbacks, due to the fact that the magnet that is arranged on the plate of the female element and the magnet that is arranged on the plate of the male element are actually constituted by a pair of rectangular magnets adapted to be arranged themselves adjacent to the slot of the dome that covers the plate to which the magnets are applied. However, due to the magnetic attraction, the magnets arranged on the plate may tend to move mutually closer, thus interfering with the engagement of the male pin in the respective slot of the dome of the female element or of the dome of the male element.
Therefore, the magnetic closure provided according to the known art has the drawback that the user may be forced, in order to perform correct closure, to push with one hand in order to force the engagement of the male pin in the respective slot.
This of course leads to a less than optimum closure, since it forces the user to perform an additional operation besides the normal operation of placing adjacent the two flaps provided with the magnetic closure.
The aim of the present invention is to provide a magnetic closure that allows to perform closure simply by placing adjacent the two male and female portions of the magnetic closure.
Within this aim, an object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic closure that allows coupling between the male element of the magnetic closure and the corresponding female element, without any interference due to magnetic attraction between the magnets of the male element of the closure and between the magnets of the female element of the magnetic closure.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic closure that is highly reliable, relatively simple to manufacture and at competitive costs.
This aim and these and other objects that will become better apparent hereinafter are achieved by a magnetic closure for personal articles, comprising an engagement pin, a male element and a female element, each one of said male and female elements comprising:
a keeper plate, which is adapted to support a pair of magnets and to support in a downward region means for fixing said male element or said female element;
a dome for covering said keeper plate that supports said magnets, said covering dome being provided with a slot that allows the passage of the engagement pin in said male element, said engagement pin being adapted to engage the slot of the covering dome of the female element; and
wherein said magnets are supported by said keeper plate so that they are spaced apart.